Some of the concept cars mapped out new design directions for Lincoln and Mercury that were ultimately never followed; the entire Mercury brand was recently axed. Some of the cars lacked powertrains, and those that are capable of moving were sold with specific warnings that they were not certified by the Department of Transportation or the Environmental Protection Agency and could not be legally registered for road use.

Highlights of the concepts included the 2001 Lincoln Mk9 coupe and Mark X concepts, as well as two forms of the 2002 Lincoln Continental — one a shell used on the auto show circuit and the other a nonrunning version with center-opening doors on complex articulating hinges and a pull-out luggage tray in the trunk, intended to hold matching Zero Halliburton aluminum luggage.

The shell sold for $15,400, and the more complete Continental sold for $56,500. (All prices include a 10 percent buyer premium.)

These cars were produced in the Lincoln design studio when it was headed by Gerry McGovern, who is now head of design for Land Rover. At the time, Mr. McGovern said he was trying to establish a new Lincoln look that would evoke not only the first Continental of 1940, and the opulent 1956 Continental Mark II, but also such icons of luxury as Wally B yachts.

The Mk9 reinterpreted the classic Lincoln grille and fender edges of the Continental. The interior combined dark cherry red and Marlboro red leather; its cantilevered seats were inspired by a furniture icon, the Eames lounge chair. The intended engine was a 414-horsepower V-12.

The Mk9 was among three concept cars to bring six-figure prices, selling for $101,750.

Another six-figure sale was the 2004 Lincoln Mark X Concept, an even further-out vision of Lincoln’s future as a brand combining performance with luxury. It sold for $101,750 including buyer’s premium.

Some of the Lincolns on the road today were presaged by another design study sold in Monterey, the MKS concept of 2005, which brought $26,800.

Two design studies for Lincoln crossovers were sold: the Navicross for $23,100 and the Aviator for $44,000. Both had carried presale estimates of $40,000 to $60,000.

The Ford Prodigy concept of 2000 is a reminder of an earlier era of government grants to Detroit: it was Ford’s very aerodynamic and efficient entry in the Department of Energy’s Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, aimed at developing cars capable of 80 miles per gallon. When it was rolled out in 1999, the Prodigy was promoted as a 72 m.p.g. diesel hybrid. In a free-market rebuke to the $1.5 billion the government poured into the partnership, the Prodigy ended up selling for a paltry $15,400 in Monterey — a fraction of its presale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.

The Prodigy bears a superficial resemblance to the Five Hundred sedan that later went into production (and was eventually renamed Taurus), proving to be a more accurate predictor of Ford styling than the retro-look Forty Nine concept of 2001. The Forty Nine, which channeled the landmark 1949 Ford (the car that literally saved the struggling postwar company), brought $67,100.

The sole Mercury to be auctioned was the Messenger of 2003, a concept for a sporty two-seater that could have broken the brand out of its rut of offering slightly modified versions of Ford models. The Messenger was said to convey “new design DNA” for Mercury; RM’s catalog called it a “sleek, stillborn sports coupe” and “a Mercury that might have been.” It sold for $52,250.

The Ford EX, an off-roader resembling a dune buggy, sold for $93,500 — toward the high end of its presale estimate of $75,000 to $100,000.

The 2004 Ford Mustang GT-R originally presented at the 2004 New York auto show brought the top price among the Ford concepts ($110,000), though it didn’t approach its presale estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. Although the GT-R cannot be legally driven on public roads, it was offered “as a tribute to 40 years of Mustang performance.”

Also falling far short of its presale estimate of $175,000 to $250,000 was the 2003 Ford Supercharged Thunderbird Concept from the 2003 Los Angeles auto show. It sold for $66,000.

This is not the first time Ford has sold off some of the concept cars in its attic. In 2002, the company consigned more than 50 concepts to Christie’s, which auctioned them for charity at Ford’s Product Development Center in Dearborn, Mich. At the time, Ford’s vice president for design, J Mays, said: “These cars have helped define us as a company. Rather than letting them fall apart in the warehouse or crushing them, we wanted to put these prototypes in the hands of other people who love them.”

General Motors, which created the idea of concept cars with the 1938 Buick Y-Job and often displayed them in its traveling Motorama shows, sent many to junkyards for destruction.

Aside from the Ford Motor Company’s concepts, some other notable Ford products were offered at the RM sale. One of these was a 1962 Lincoln Bubbletop limousine used by President John F. Kennedy. It sold for $429,000, below the presale estimate of $500,000 to $750,000.

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